Turkish PM urges protesters to leave Gezi Park

June 14, 2013

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's prime minister on Friday urged a small delegation of protesters to persuade hundreds of others occupying an Istanbul park to withdraw.

Turkish activists leading a sit-in were considering a promise by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to let the courts and a potential referendum decide the fate of the much-despised Gezi Park redevelopment project — a plan that has sparked Turkey's biggest protests in decades. The pledge was made during last-ditch negotiations after Erdogan had issued what he called a "final warning" to protesters.

The two-week standoff has damaged Erdogan's international reputation and led to repeated interventions by riot police. After initially inflaming tensions by dubbing the protesters "terrorists," the prime minister has moderated his stance in closed-door talks in the last few days.

But Erdogan told party members Friday that the protesters in the park had "stayed long enough." "'Go and speak to them ... Don't let us be forced into reverting to different measures,'" Erdogan said he had told the protesters' representatives.

Earlier in the day, Erdogan's ruling party announced that the government would suspend its plan to cut down trees in Gezi Park and install a replica Ottoman barracks until the courts could rule on its legality. And even if the courts sided with the government, a city referendum would be held to determine the plan's fate, officials said.

It remained far from clear, however, whether the overtures would work. Erdogan has pledged to end the two-week protest but has also urged his supporters to rally in Ankara and Istanbul this weekend. Those demonstrations could raise tension between his conservative, Islamic base and the people occupying the park who are mostly — but not all — liberal- and secular-minded.

As night fell Friday, a festive mood pervaded the park, and the crowd of thousands swelled. Many sang songs or snapped photos of makeshift barricades erected by protesters. The Taksim Solidarity group, two of whose members were in the meeting with Erdogan, has emerged as the most high-profile from the occupation that began last month. But it does not speak for all of the hundreds camping in the park, many of whom claim no affiliation to any group.

Bilge Seckin, a member of the umbrella group, said discussions in the park about Erdogan's initiative were continuing, but she sensed "the general feeling is that the people's requests were not addressed" during the talks with the prime minister.

"For instance on the police violence, there were requests that senior officials responsible be removed from duty," she said, referring to the protesters demands. "They (authorities) are saying that police officers are being investigated — which is not very satisfactory."

It was not clear when, or if, the protest groups would make a formal response to Erdogan's initiative. Many protesters were still seething at how a peaceful protest has been sometimes overtaken as riot police clashed with groups of stone- and firebomb-throwing youths. Such scenes prompted the European Parliament to condemn the heavy-handed response by Turkish police.

A May 31 police raid to clear out the park ignited demonstrations that morphed into broader protests against what many see as the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style of government. Erdogan's opponents have grown increasingly suspicious about what they call a gradual erosion of freedoms and secular Turkish values under his Islamic-rooted party's government. It has passed new restrictions on alcohol and attempted but dropped a plan to limit women's access to abortion.

Mobilizing the courts and a referendum, however, could shield the prime minister from accusations of an authoritarian response. "Until the courts give their final verdicts, no action will be taken regarding Gezi Park," said Huseyin Celik, a spokesman for Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, after the meeting. "Even if the court ... is in favor of our government's decisions, our government will hold a referendum to see what our people think — what they want and don't want."

Tayfun Kahraman, one of the Taksim Solidarity members who attended the meeting, said he believed Erdogan had offered "positive words," and that fellow activists would consider them in a "positive manner." But he said those in Gezi Park would "make their own assessments."

"We are Gezi Park and we decide. No one has the luxury to decide on our behalf," he said. Suspicion within the park about Erdogan's tactics and motives remains widespread. "The prime minister calls the people he pleases to the meetings and says some stuff," said demonstrator Murat Tan. "We don't care about them much. Today, we saved the trees here but our main goal is to save the people."

Analysts say the protests don't present a threat to Erdogan's tenure, but do threaten his legacy. Some say Erdogan would like to leave a mark on history, similar to that of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of modern Turkey.

Erdogan himself sat in front of a portrait of Ataturk during the overnight talks at his residence in Ankara.

Eds: Becatoros reported from Istanbul. Onur Cakir in Istanbul and Jamey Keaten in Ankara contributed to this report.

Turkish PM's supporters hold rallies in Macedonia

June 14, 2013

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Ethnic Turks and Albanians in two Macedonian cities have held peaceful rallies in support of the prime minister of Turkey, which has been rocked by two weeks of anti-government protests.

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Skopje is with you," a few hundred people chanted after midday prayers at a mosque in the capital Skopje. Rally organizers said that while they did not oppose the protests in Turkey, they deplored violence by some demonstrators.

About 2,000 people attended a similar rally in the western town of Gostivar. Organizers said participants included ethnic Turks from Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo. About 80,000 ethnic Turks live in Macedonia, and about a third of the country's 2.1 million people are Muslims.

Iran's Rowhani seeks 'constructive interaction'

June 15, 2013

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Just weeks after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory in 2005, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani stepped down from the post after quarrelsome meetings with the new president.

The decision cemented Rowhani's reputation as a moderate who rejected Ahmadinejad's combative approach in world affairs in favor of the more nuanced philosophy of Ahmadinejad's leading political foe, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Rafsanjani was rejected by Iran's election guardians from Friday's presidential ballot. But for many reformists and liberals in Iran, the 64-year-old Rowhani is somewhat of a mirror image of the elder Rafsanjani by reflecting his outlook that Iran can maintain its nuclear program and ease tensions with the West at the same time.

Rowhani held a wide lead in early vote counting Saturday. "Rafsanjani was really the only choice to re-energize reformists," said Rasool Nafisi, an Iranian affairs analyst at Strayer University in Virginia. "Rowhani only got their support because he is seen as Rafsanjani's man and a vote for Rowhani was a vote for Rafsanjani."

This deep connection between the two men could give a potential Rowhani presidency a dual nature: Rowhani as the public face and Rafsanjani behind the scenes as its powerful godfather and protector. Although all key policies such the nuclear program are directed by the ruling clerics, the alliance with Rafsanjani may give Rowhani more latitude to put his stamp on Iran's negotiation tactics with world powers after four rounds of talks since last year have failed to make any significant headway.

At campaign rallies, Rowhani has pledged to seek "constructive interaction with the world" that includes efforts to ease Western concerns about Iran's program and lift punishing international sanctions that have pummeled the economy. The West and its allies fear Iran could be moving toward development of a nuclear weapon. Iranian officials, including Rowhani, insist that the country only seeks nuclear reactors for energy and medical applications.

"We won't let the past eight years be continued," Rowhani told a cheering crowd last week in a clear reference to Ahmadinejad's back-to-back terms. "They brought sanctions for the country. Yet, they are proud of it. I'll pursue a policy of reconciliation and peace. We will also reconcile with the world."

Rowhani — the only cleric in the six-candidate presidential field — started religious studies at a teenager. He soon established himself as an outspoken opponent of the Western-backed shah, traveling frequently for anti-monarchy speeches and sermons that caught the attention of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the eventual leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rowhani later graduated from Tehran University with a law degree in 1972. He then went abroad to Glasgow Caledonian University for a master's degree in legal affairs, according to his campaign biography.

While outside Iran, the stirrings of the Islamic Revolution were growing stronger. Rowhani returned to Iran and stepped up his denunciations of the shah, but fled the country to avoid arrest. He then joined up with Khomeini, who was in self-exile in France, and the rest of his inner circle, including Rafsanjani.

After the revolution, Rowhani rose quickly with various roles, including reorganizing the military, serving in the new parliament and overseeing the state broadcaster, which became a valued mouthpiece for Khomeini.

He strengthened his ties to Rafsanjani during the 1980-88 war with Iraq and, later, as Rafsanjani's top national security adviser during his 1989-97 terms. Rowhani continued the role with reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who also appointed Rowhani as the country's first nuclear envoy.

Rowhani took over the nuclear portfolio in 2003, a year after Iran's 20-year-old nuclear program was revealed. Iran later temporarily suspended all uranium enrichment-related activities to avoid possible sanctions from the U.N. Security Council.

Ahmadinejad strongly opposed any such concessions and deal-making. He also had carry-over friction with Rowhani, who backed his mentor Rafsanjani against Ahmadinejad in the 2005 race. Rowhani resigned as nuclear negotiator and head of the Supreme National Security Council after a few testy postelection meetings with Ahmadinejad.

In his campaign stops, Rowhani had been careful not to directly confront authorities over crackdowns since Ahmadinejad's disputed 2009 election. But Rowhani was seen as clearly siding with Ahmadinejad's reform-minded opponent four years ago, Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was placed under house arrest in early 2011 along with fellow opposition candidate Mahdi Karroubi.

Taking a page from Mousavi's color-branded campaign, Rowhani adopted purple for his run for the presidency. It also brought some backlash, including several supporters arrested at a rally that brought cries from the crowd for the release of Mousavi and Karroubi.

At Rowhani's final campaign event earlier this week, chants rang out: "Love live reforms."

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.